Interoperability

Interoperability and exchange are perhaps the most frequently spoken words at this year's HIMSS13 conference. Yet they are only two among the many issues facing national coordinator Farzad Mostashari, MD, this week.

A raft of technologies including broadband, cloud computing, cheaper storage and mobile devices, among others, is driving the transformation. At the same time, market expectations regarding standards of care are changing, as are younger providers' relationship with health-specific IT.

Clinician-to-clinician Direct messaging is now available across New York as part of the Statewide Health Information Network of New York. Albany Medical Center, one of the busiest trauma centers in Upstate New York, will be the state's first provider using the Direct service, which integrates into providers' electronic health record systems.

Two new surveys find big variations in physician use of health information exchange. While many large practices are thinking about analytics, patient tracking and performance data for ACOs, some smaller practices were unaware of their state-based HIEs or the Direct Project.

The Health Information Trust Alliance (HITRUST) announced this week that it will establish a new working group to support the White House Cybersecurity Executive Order.

The Department of Veterans Affairs has tapped HP Enterprise Services and Intelligent InSites for a $543 million contract to deploy real-time locating system technology in VA medical centers nationwide.

When asked what a powerful health information exchange (HIE) is built upon, one might immediately think of computer accounts, files upon files of paper medical reports converted into megabytes, laptop, screens and data synapses sparking the air between them.

With numerous electronic health record systems continuing to fall short of providers' expectations, a report by Black Book Rankings suggests that 2013 may indeed be the "year of the great EHR vendor switch."

One thing I've learned in the government is that words matter, and sometimes, particularly in complicated or technical areas, it can be hard to use words that are precise and accurate.

It was a task that extended beyond hammers and nails. After the blow of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the greater New Orleans area was faced with the challenge of rebuilding its internal public health structure - beyond the material repair of roofs and floors, waiting rooms and patient rooms.